As you may know, Cheryl Gillan MP recently petitioned the Lords HS2 Select Committee on the issue of MPs ‘locus standi’ or the right to appear and petition the Committee on behalf of our constituents. You can view her presentation here:

Unfortunately we were not successful in this. It was always going to be a challenge to convince the Committee that MPs should be allowed to appear as the Committee process was never intended to work in this manner, or to deal with a project of the size and scope of HS2. Lord Walker, the Committee Chair, has said that he hopes that in future the rules governing the Committee process will be adapted to be more flexible, however with the current rules the Committee has decided against awarding MPs locus standi. You can see the decision here:

It is important to bear in mind that this does not mean that I will not be able to appear before the Committee as a witness to other petitioners and I intend to do this wherever possible. If you are petitioning the Committee and this is something that you would be interested in, please get in touch with my office on 020 7219 2514, or at david.lidington.mp@parliament.uk.

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